Thoughts on a great England Test victory overseas
England’s Test victory by an innings and 47 runs deservedly made the sporting headlines but still had to vie with the 1-2 defeat in soccer by Greece.
The wicket at Multan was docile which made the Pakistan collapse on the fourth and fifth days all the more inexplicable.
The Test will be remembered for the record breaking partnership of Joe Root and Harry Brook – particularly the latter’s 317 – but I take issue with those whose appreciation of cricket is governed by stats. Of course they are important but they can never tell the whole story.
Joe Root is now regarded as the greatest English batsman of all time but he has played in an era of multiple Tests compared to those of the past.
For me his greatness lies in scoring runs on an overseas wicket in such heat – he was so dehydrated he had to be hospitalised – and in Multan, where there is an abundance of mosquitos and you can catch Dengue fever: indeed, I know a person who follows England abroad on the subcontinent who did, although he was unaware of it at the time.
Aside from that, you might play in era of greater hostility – as with the legendary Caribbean speedsters – or indeed greater rivals: Les Jackson of Derbyshire might have had more caps but for Fred Trueman and Robin Marler of Sussex earned no caps because Surrey had Jim Laker and Tony Lock.